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Benjamin Siegel
Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel (בערוש בֺר מרדכי דוב הלוי) (born Benjamin Siegelbaum;PBS.org page on Bugsy Siegel February 28, 1906 – June 20, 1947) was a notorius Hebrew-American gangster who worked closely with fellow New York City gangsters Charles "Lucky" Luciano, Vito Genovese and Meyer Lansky as part of Murder, Inc. An associate of the Genovese crime family. Siegel was a major driving force behind large-scale development of metropolitan Las Vegas. He is also known for his now-fabled stormy relationship with mob-mistress and courier Virginia Hill. Early life Bugsy Siegel was born Benjamin Siegelbaum in 1906 in Williamsburg section of Brooklyn, New York, to a poor Jewish family from Letychiv,Chapin, David A. and Weinstock, Ben, The Road from Letichev: The history and culture of a forgotten Jewish community in Eastern Europe, Volume 2. ISBN 0-595-00667-1 iUniverse, Lincoln, NE, 2000. Podolia Governorate of the Russian Empire, in modern Ukraine. As a boy, Siegel joined a gang on Lafayette Street on the Lower East Side of Manhattan and committed mainly thefts, until, with a youth named Moe Sedway, he devised his own protection racket: pushcart merchants were forced to pay him a dollar or he would incinerate their merchandise. During adolescence, Siegel befriended Meyer Lansky, who was forming a small mob whose activities expanded to gambling and car theft. Siegel reputedly also worked as the mob's hitman, whom Lansky would hire out to other crime families(Smith). On January 28, 1929, Siegel married Esta Krakower, his childhood sweetheart and sister of contract killer Whitey Krakower. Murder, Inc. connection In 1930, Lansky and Siegel built ties to Charles "Lucky" Luciano and Frank Costello, future bosses of the Genovese crime family. Siegel became a bootlegger and was associated with Albert "Mad Hatter" Anastasia. Siegel was involved in bootlegging in New York, New Jersey, and Philadelphia. Siegel and Anastasia, together with Vito Genovese and Joe Adonis, were the four gunmen who shot New York mob boss Joe Masseria to death on Luciano's orders on April 15, 1931, formally ending the Castellammarese War. On September 10 of that year, Luciano hired four trigger men from the Lansky-Siegel gang to murder Masseria's rival, Salvatore Maranzano, cementing Luciano's rise to the top of the U.S. Mafia and marking the birth of modern American organized crime. In 1932, Siegel was arrested for gambling and bootlegging but got off with a fine. Lansky and Siegel assisted in Luciano's brief alliance with Dutch Schultz and killed rival loan sharks Louis "Pretty" Amberg and Joseph Amberg in 1935. California In 1937, the East Coast mob sent Siegel to California to develop syndicate gambling rackets with Los Angeles crime family boss, Jack Dragna. Once in Los Angeles, Siegel recruited gang boss Mickey Cohen as his lieutenant. Siegel used syndicate money to set up a national wire service to help the East Coast mob quicken their returns. Siegel moved Esta and their two daughters, Millicent and Barbara, to California. On tax returns he claimed to earn his living through legal gambling at Santa Anita Park near Los Angeles. On November 22, 1939, Siegel, Whitey Krakower, and two other gang members killed Harry "Big Greenie" Greenberg. Greenberg had threatened to become a police informant, and Louis "Lepke" Buchalter, boss of Murder, Inc., ordered his killing. Siegel was tried for the Greenberg murder. Whitey Krakower was killed before he could face trial. Siegel was acquitted but his reputation was in ruins. During the trial, newspapers revealed Siegel's past and referred to him as "Bugsy". He hated the nickname (said to be based on the slang "bugs", meaning "crazy", and used to describe his erratic behavior), and wouldn't be called "Bugsy" to his face."PBS program special "Bugsy" Las Vegas Siegel desired to be legitimate. The legitimacy and respectability he craved were beyond his reach. But by spring 1946, it became stronger – in William R. Wilkerson's Flamingo. Las Vegas gave Siegel his second opportunity to reinvent himself. Siegel had traveled to Southern Nevada in 1934 with Meyer Lansky's lieutenant Moe Sedway, on Lansky's orders to explore expanding operations. There were opportunities in providing illicit services to the crews constructing the Hoover Dam. Lansky had turned the desert over to Siegel. But Siegel, wanting nothing to do with it, turned it over to Moe Sedway and fled for Hollywood. Lansky pressured Siegel to represent them in Wilkerson's desert project. Someone had to watchdog their interests. Siegel, who knew Wilkerson and lived near him in Beverly Hills, was the obvious choice as a liaison, but Siegel was infuriated. He wanted no part in any operation that took him back to Nevada permanently. It meant forsaking Beverly Hills and playboy life and enduring the heat of Nevada. At Lansky's insistence, however, Siegel consented. Siegel accepts Throughout the spring of 1946, Siegel proved useful. He obtained black market building materials. The postwar shortages that had dogged construction were no longer a problem. At first Siegel seemed content to do things Wilkerson's way. His desire to learn about the project took precedence over his sportsman lifestyle. It subdued his aggression. Under Wilkerson's tutelage, Siegel played the pupil, learning the mechanics of building an enterprise. The role did not come easily. Perhaps outdistanced and afraid of being upstaged by his mentor, Siegel began to feel intimidated and paranoid. He grew resentful of Wilkerson's talent and vision. As time went on, the gangster's admiration disintegrated into insane jealousy. Siegel reverted to his familiar role: the big-shot. He began making decisions without Wilkerson's authority. Informing work crews that Wilkerson had put him in charge, Siegel ordered changes which conflicted with the blueprints. The problem came to a head when Siegel demanded more involvement in the project. To keep the project moving, Wilkerson agreed that Siegel would supervise the hotel while Wilkerson retained control of everything else. In May 1946, Siegel decided the agreement had to be altered to give him control of the Flamingo. With the Flamingo, Siegel would supply the gambling, the liquor and the best food and biggest entertainers at reasonable prices. He believed these attractions would lure not only the high rollers, but thousands of vacationers willing to lose $50 or $100 (Koziol). Siegel offered to buy out Wilkerson's creative participation with corporate stock – an additional 5 percent ownership in the operation (which Siegel later reneged). On June 20, 1946, Siegel formed the Nevada Project Corporation of California, naming himself president. He was also the largest principal stockholder in the operation, which defined everyone else merely as shareholders (William Wilkerson was eventually coerced into selling all stakes in the Flamingo under threat of death, and went into hiding in Paris for a time). From this point the Flamingo became syndicate-run. Las Vegas' beginning Siegel began a spending spree, staggering even today. He demanded the finest building that money could buy at a time of wartime shortages. Each bathroom of the 93-room hotel had its own sewer system (cost: $1,150,000); more toilets were ordered than needed (cost: $50,000); because of the plumbing alterations, the boiler room, now too small, had to be enlarged (cost: $113,000); and Siegel ordered a larger kitchen (cost: $29,000). Adding to the budgetary over-runs were problems with dishonest contractors and disgruntled unpaid builders. By day, trucks delivered black market goods. By night the same materials were pilfered and resold to Siegel a few days later. As costs soared, Siegel's checks began bouncing. By October 1946, the costs had soared above $4 million. In spring 1947, the Flamingo would clock in at over $6 million (Jennings 6). The first indication of trouble came in early November 1946. The syndicate issued an ultimatum: provide accounting or forfeit funding. But producing a balance sheet was the last thing Siegel wanted to do. After the syndicate's refusal of help, Siegel waged a campaign of private fund raising. He sold nonexistent stock. Siegel was in a hurry to finish. He doubled his work force, believing the project could be completed in half the time. But it was costs, not building, that began rising faster. Siegel paid overtime and double-time. In some cases, bonuses tied to project deadlines were offered in hope of increasing productivity. By the end of November work was nearly finished. Under pressure to have the hotel make some money, Siegel moved the opening from Wilkerson's original date of March 1, 1947 to the day after Christmas, 1946. Although the hotel was incomplete he was hoping to generate enough from the casino to complete the project and repay investors. Siegel announced the hotel would be ready the day after Christmas. Its opening would be held that same evening, December 26, 1946. Siegel generated confusion regarding the opening date. Acting on a whim, he decided a weekend would be more likely to entice celebrities away from home. Invitations were sent out for Saturday, December 28. Siegel changed his mind again. Invitees were notified by phone that the opening had been changed back to the 26th. Devastation While locals jammed the opening, few celebrities materialized. A handful did motor in from Los Angeles despite appalling weather. Some of the celebrities present were June Haver, Vivian Blaine, George Raft, Sonny Tufts, Brian Donlevy, and Charles Coburn. They were welcomed by construction noise and a lobby draped with decorators' drop cloths. The desert's first air conditioning collapsed regularly. While gambling tables were operating, the luxury rooms that would have served as the lure for them to stay and gamble longer were not ready. After two weeks the Flamingo's gaming tables were $275,000 in the red and the entire operation shut down in late January 1947. The Man Who Invented Las Vegas, by W.R. Wilkerson III, Ciro's Books, 2000, pp. 73–104 ISBN 0-9676643-0-6[http://www.casinoconnectionnevada.com/articles/Vegas_and_the_Mob Casino Connection Nevada Vegas and the Mob article, CasinoConnections.com.] By begging the mob bosses to give his friend a second chance, Lansky got an extension for Bugsy. After being granted a second chance, Bugsy cracked down and did everything possible to turn the Flamingo into a success. However, by the time profits began improving the mob bosses above Bugsy were tired of waiting. "PBS program special "Bugsy" At age 41, Ben Siegel had carved out a notorious name for himself in the annals of organized crime and in Las Vegas history (Smith). Death On the night of June 20, 1947, as Siegel sat with his associate Allen Smiley in Virginia Hill's Beverly Hills home reading the Los Angeles Times, an unknown assailant fired at him through the window with a .30-caliber military M1 carbine, hitting him many times, including twice in the head (Smith). No one was charged with the murder, and the crime remains officially unsolved.[http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F20C12FA385D13728DDDAB0A94DE405B8788F1D3 Siegel, Gangster, Is Slain On Coast. Co-chief of 'Bug and Meyer Mob' Here. Is Victim of Shots Fired Through Window. Benjamin Siegel, 42 years old, former New York gangster, was slain last midnight by a fusillade of bullets fired through the living room window of a Beverly Hills house where he was staying. New York Times, dated June 22, 1947, Sunday, accessed October 31, 2007.] Though descriptions held that Siegel was shot in the eye, he was actually struck twice on the right side of his head. Both death scene and postmortem photographs clearly show that one shot penetrated his right cheek and exited through the left side of his neck; the other struck the right bridge of his nose where it met the right eye socket. Overpressure created by that bullet's striking and passing through Siegel's skull blew his left eye out of its socket. Both the Los Angeles' Coroner's Report (#37448) and his death certificate (Registrar's #816192) state the cause of death was cerebral hemorrhage. Though as noted, Siegel was actually not shot exactly through the eye (the eyeball would have been destroyed if this had been the case), the bullet-through-the-eye style of killing nevertheless became popular in Mafia lore and in movies, and was called the "Moe Greene special"Crime Library after the character Moe Greene - based on Siegel - who was killed in this manner in The Godfather. Siegel was hit by several other bullets including shots through his lungs.American Mafia Website According to Florabel Muir, "Four of the nine shots fired that night destroyed a white marble statue of Bacchus on a grand piano, and then lodged in the far wall". The day after Siegel's death, the Los Angeles Herald-Express carried a photograph on its front page from the morgue of Siegel's bare right foot with a toe tag dangling from its big toe.Funerals of the Infamous, retrieved 2011-10-15 None of Siegel’s courtiers came to Siegel’s funeral. Not Mickey Cohen, Siegel’s hired muscle. Not Smiley the Russian or Chick Hill who saw him die. Not Virginia Hill, whose body had been his when he wanted it. Not Lawyer Jerry Giesler, who had once saved him from execution, nor his ever loving pal George Raft, nor Meyer Lansky, who crawled up from the gutter with him. And not one man from the Flamingo, his castle in the Nevada Sand (Jennings 16). Memorial In the Bialystoker Synagogue on Manhattan's Lower East Side, Siegel is memorialized by a Yahrtzeit (remembrance) plaque that marks his death date so mourners can say Kaddish for the anniversary. Siegel's plaque is below that of his father, Max Siegel, who died two months prior to his son's murder. Siegel is interred in the Hollywood Forever Cemetery in Hollywood, California. In film *''The Godfather'' (1972), as 'Moe Greene', played by Alex Rocco. *''Bugsy'' (1991), a biography of Siegel, featured Warren Beatty as the mobster. *''Mobsters'' (1991), a semi-fictitious account of the rise of Charles "Lucky" Luciano, Meyer Lansky, Frank Costello, and Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel, featured Richard Grieco as Siegel. *''Lansky, a 1999 biography of Meyer Lansky, Siegel is played by Eric Roberts. *Boardwalk Empire'' (2011), Teenaged "Benny" Siegel is played by Michael Zegen. In literature *Siegel is a recurring villain of Greg Saunders, the first Vigilante. References Books about Bugsy Siegel *Jennings, Dean Southern. We Only Kill Each Other; the Life and Bad times of Bugsy Siegel,. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1967. Print. *Koziol, Ronald. Chicago Tribune. 27 Sept. 1987. Web. 13 Mar. 2012. . *Smith, John. "Part II: Resort Rising." The First 100 Persons Who Shaped Southern Nevada. Web. 13 Mar. 2012. Weblink: http://www.1st100.com/part2/siegel.html Further reading *''Hollywood's Celebrity Gangster. The Incredible Life and Times of Mickey Cohen'' by Brad Lewis. (Enigma Books: New York, 2007. ISBN 978-1-929631-65-0) *''The Battle for Las Vegas: The Law Vs. the Mob'' by Dennis N Griffin (Huntington Press: 2006. ISBN 0929712374) *Almog, Oz, Kosher Nostra Jüdische Gangster in Amerika, 1890–1980 ; Jüdischen Museum der Stadt Wien ; 2003, Text Oz Almog, Erich Metz, ISBN 3901398333 External links *Bugsysiegel.net, various information including a copy of Siegel's death certificate *FBI files on Siegel (2,421 pages, heavily redacted) From the FBI Freedom of Information Act. *Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel Profile and NY Times Article at J-Grit: The Internet Index of Tough Jews *PBS American Experience *Bugsy Siegel memorial in Las Vegas *Bugsy Siegel at Find a Grave References Category:Jewish Mobsters Category:Murdered Mobsters